


Creation

by Sephone_North



Series: Book 1: Judged [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Also mentions a canon death, Azula is not jealous, Copious amounts of worldbuilding with probably not enough plot, Gen, Hakoda is amused, It is dramatic, No Beta: We die like mne, The Spirits (or spirit) get their talk, Zuko is awake alive and embarrassing his sister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:21:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25479100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephone_North/pseuds/Sephone_North
Summary: Deep in the Swamp is a tree. In the Tree, the Spirits speak. It is the Prince's duty to listen.Azula doesn't know about anyone else, but this crap is giving her anxiety. Can she just burn it all down now?
Relationships: Azula & Hakoda (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Hakoda & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Book 1: Judged [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844545
Comments: 103
Kudos: 1548





	Creation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).



> Oh. Wow. I wrote this today? Geez. That's three fics in one day. I'm almost sorry, guys this stuff never happens. 
> 
> This chapter devolves in copious amounts of worldbuilding, where I use real world ancient mythology and Avatar canon like a Salad Bar at Ruby Tuesdays. I'll take a little here, a little there, sprinkle in some of this, and voila! Lore. So, enjoy!
> 
> As always, Muffin's fault. She knows what she did.
> 
> EDIT: I am so sorry for the formatting issues. I generally add the Italics and Bolds in HTML as I'm writing, but when I switched over to rich text to keep the paragraph formatting, those self destructed. It's fixed now!

Lu Ten was dead. 

The secret was locked behind her lips, ruining what little sleep she got. It wasn’t that she missed her cousin. She had barely known him. He would rather spend time with Zuko anyways, just like Iroh. She knew, and she couldn’t tell Zuko about it, because he’d _react_. 

He had reacted on the ocean, when he thought Azula wouldn’t notice. Sometimes, she’d pretend to be sleeping, just because she heard his sniffles and sobs. She hadn’t cried as much as him. But like Mother had always thought, she was a monster, so she didn’t expect she’d feel the same about death as him. 

But this was dangerous. If Zuko started crying after hearing the death of the Crown Prince, it could be written off as just misplaced patriotism. But she couldn’t be sure that’s what would happen. 

She was scared of what would happen if the Water Tribe learned that they were royalty. She knew they’d go from ‘guests’ and ‘pitiful children fished from death’ straight to ‘very valuable hostages’. They would try to ransom them to Grandfather, and he would have to bite if the other rumors about Iroh’s disappearance were true. Negotiating for the prodigy would be fine, he wouldn’t lose any respect or support for that. But saving Zuko would be seen as a form of weakness to some. It was well known that Zuko wasn’t as strong as her. 

What if he paid for her and not for him? It’d break him. 

_Why do I care?_ she thought quietly, curling up on the warm furs as the moon reappeared from behind a cloud, light pouring in through one of the windows. She used to enjoy making Zuko cry, but now, it just seemed wrong. Something had shifted between them in the two weeks floating along. His quiet admission that he’d even planned his death to benefit her had hurt her for some reason. 

She glanced over to the pile of furs where he slept. He shouldn’t have saved her. She’d only ever spent her time making him miserable and yet, when it came down to it, he’d put her life first. If she was honest with herself, she couldn’t admit that she would’ve done the same thing. 

Maybe Mother was right. Maybe, she was a monster. 

\---

Kutsaa and Huu had both agreed that today they were going into the swamp so Zu-zu could speak with the spirits. They would be taking a boat almost the entire way, so Zuko wouldn’t have to walk much. That was good, because while he was better, he wasn’t able to walk and stand for very long. 

She was settled in one of the front boats, sitting next to Bato, with Runalok and Tuluk behind her. Hakoda was in another boat, with Zuko, Kutsaa, and Huu. They were close enough that she could see them, which quelled the anxiety burning in her chest. 

It was stupid, how every time she wasn’t next to Zuko or when the Chief was out of her sight, her heart started to race. Her palms would get sweaty, a sheer sign of weakness in firebenders, and her breath would quicken. She knew the symptoms. Every time she was in some way alone, she got _scared_. 

Fear was something that she knew of, but not like this. Not all consuming fear that drowned her on dry land. She knew it made her weak. She hated it. 

She shifted, her hands tightening on her bag. It was irrational, her attachment to the emergency bag. Zuko had found it in the shipwreck. They both had listened to a Lieutenant as the woman had explained that the bags were located in various places on the ship. Each bag had everything a person needed to survive until rescue could be found. And she hadn’t lied. The bag had kept them alive until they were rescued. 

In the bag, she had found two bottles with some metal piping that had turned out to be a freshwater stil. Zuko had somehow known how to work it, going by clues from an old theatre scroll he’d read. She also had found rope, a water skin, and a small waterproof bag with jerky. She found some sticks and a blanket made of the same material as her bag. She’d ended up crafting a sunshade out of that, but eight days in, the wind had ripped it off. 

She had the stil in there, with an empty waterskin. She’d refilled the smaller bag with jerky from the _Akhlut_ stores. Some other food was hidden away, things that wouldn’t go bad, or so she hoped. She’d also sneaked in some herbs from Kutsaa’s stores and some bandages. That’s what they got for letting her sleep in the infirmary with Zu-zu. 

_(Some nights, she’d laid there, staring at Zuko with wide eyes, listening for his breath. She could feel it, even from her own little fur nest, heat escaping his mouth, a sure sign he was alive. She would never admit, but those three hours, as the sun set and the moon rose, when he refused to wake up among the lapping waves, those three hours were the most terrifying of her entire life.)_

She looked up to shake herself from her thoughts, focusing on studying the form of the waterbender propelling their boat. His back was straight, arms flowing in great wide circles, making the boat skip along at great speed. She turned to look at the man holding the rudder. He held it almost lazily, navigating the twists and turns of the swamplands with ease. 

“You alright?” Hakoda’s second in command, Bato asked. She had done her best to refuse to learn the names of the Water Tribe men, but almost two weeks of their company had ruined that plan. It had taken Zuko eight days after waking up that first day to get better enough to even take this trip. 

“Fine,” She said, turning to look forward again. She wasn’t too nervous about the boat of even the water. This wasn’t the empty horizon of the ocean. She could easily climb to land here. 

She glanced over to make sure that Zuko was still in his boat. He was leaning forward, head down, Hakoda’s hand on his back. She wondered if he was sick. The bobbing of the boat wasn’t even that bad. Both Huu and Kutsaa didn’t seem too worried, so it was probably just Zu-zu being weak. 

“It’s okay to admit you’re nervous, Ilah.” Bato continued, watching her. She had spent a bit of time in his company, simply because of his casual proximity to Hakoda. If she wasn’t so weak and didn’t feel the need to have the Chief nearby, she probably wouldn’t even know his name. 

“I’m not nervous,” She replied, her eyes narrowing. “I was simply observing the waterbender and the boat.” She crossed her arms and turned away, ignoring him completely. 

She had planned to use these peasants to heal Zuko and get them back on Fire Nation soil. THen they could return home and back to normalcy. She didn’t expect to become attached. It was a ridiculous notion. She didn’t do “attached”. 

_(Zuko. Mai. Ty Lee. Father. Mother.)_

__

__

(You are a liar.) 

_ (You are a child.)_

Suddenly the boats slowed, and she looked up to blink at the tallest tree she’d ever seen in her entire life. It was nearly as tall as the Caldera walls, reaching towards the sky. The waterbenders pulled them up to a giant root and began to help them disembark, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from the tree. 

It was _terrifying._

The entire palace could fit in the base of this tree and still have room. It was too big, too much. She didn’t know why she felt threatened by the presence of a tree, but something in the back of her mind warned her that it was alive. This whole swamp was alive, her instincts told her, and she realized that she’d lose that fight. The tree was too big, the vines too wet. Nothing would burn. 

_(She stared at empty water that had no end. How could she fight this? There was nothing to burn. She was extinguished.)_

“Ilah,” Bato’s voice jerked her from her thoughts, and she realized that she was the only one in the boat, clutching her bag to her chest like a lifeline. She blinked and tilted her chin, before primly jumping out of the boat. She ignored his amusement and sauntered, not hurried, to where Zuko was. 

He was staring at the tree too, but his eyes weren’t afraid. They were awed. She felt her stomach twist. She didn’t understand how he was in awe of a giant tree. All she felt was trepidation (not fear). 

Hakoda smiled at her from Zuko’s side, and she did not enjoy the approving look. “How’d you find the boat, Ilah?” He asked cheerfully. “Your brother almost threw up on my boots.” 

That got Zuko’s attention. “I said I was sorry!” He nearly yelled, the hot head that he was. He blinked and flushed, leaning back and expecting the hit. Any of his tutors could’ve slapped him for such an outburst, and Father most definitely would have. 

Hakoda just laughed, confusing both of them. “I’m teasing, Kuzon,” He said, clapping a hand on Zu-zu’s shoulder. She was not jealous of the touch, she was not. “Now, let’s go ask Huu about where we’re going, hmm?” 

Azula slotted herself onto Zuko’s left side as they started to climb further up the tree. He was struggling, still clumsy from his time trapped in bed. He muttered under his breath as he did his best not to fall. 

The left side of his head was still completely wrapped in bandages. She had listened as the healers had given him instructions on how to clean out the now empty eye socket and surrounding area. However, the skin was still healing, which meant her brother looked like an idiot. 

They climbed a good distance, high enough that they were above the treeline of the entire swamp. Looking out, Azula could feel something twist inside of her. The thought of the empty sky wasn’t a scary one, but a freeing one. Part of her had always wished she could fly. This high up, it almost felt like she was. 

“Wow,” Zuko whispered, staring out. The Water Tribe men were also looking out, awestruck. 

Huu smiled. “The swamp is one big tree, spread out. One big living organism.” 

Azula’s head snapped to him, eyes narrowing, prepared to call him a liar. But he was smiling at her, no doubt waiting for it. Not wanting to play into anyone’s hands, she rolled her eyes and went back to staring at the sky. 

Zuko finally tore his gaze from the sight and turned to Huu. “Where are we meeting the spirits?” He asked quietly. 

Huu led them to a spot near the trunk, where he pulled aside some hanging vines. It revealed a cave-like hollow in the tree, big enough for the entire Water Tribe ship to fit inside. Azula blinked at it, shivering at the thought of the sheer size of the tree. She didn’t like it. 

She also didn’t like the feeling on the back of her neck that screamed that she wasn’t welcome. She felt herself curl in, before remembering that she was a princess and two weeks at sea didn’t change that. She forced herself to straighten and her chin to come up. 

There were seats in a circle in the hollow, with a long empty bench in one area looking out over the swamp. Huu directed the Water Tribe and her to sit on the seats. He pointed Zuko to the bench. 

Her brother began stepping towards the bench, and Azula slipped under Hakoda’s waiting hand to settle at Zuko’s side. She glared back, daring them to stop her. 

“Miss, might not be a good idea,” Huu warned. Zuko stopped and turned to look at her. 

“La-la?” He asked, confused. She sneered at him.

“As if I’m letting you embarrass yourself and me to a Great Spirit, Dum-dum.” She snapped. He blinked, before smiling at her. 

“Thanks,” he murmured. She hummed in response, ignoring the warmth in her chest.

A musical feminie laugh filled the hollow, and they jumped before turning to see a woman seated at the bench. Gasps sounded behind them from the men, but their eyes were focused on the woman. 

The woman was surreal to look at. Her dark hair was pulled back and adorned with flowers, and flesh colored horns grew from her temples. Her dress was deep midnight blue and long, spilling out over the ground and off the bench. It was embroidered with shimming golden lines that moved. Over it she wore a sheer coat of golden yellow, just as long and expansive as her dress. A green snakeskin laid over her arms like a long scarf. Her eyes were lined with kohl, her lips bright red on her very pale skin. 

**“Greetings, Agni’s chosen,”** She spoke, and Azula had to lock her knees not to fall to the floor. Zuko nearly crumbled, but she grabbed his elbow and squeezed. He gasped, but stayed on his feet. He glanced at her and she glared in return. She chose when she knelt, no one else. Not even spirits. 

“Greetings, my Lady,” Zuko said, his voice respectful as he turned back to the Spirit. She was watching them greatly amused, as if their human stubbornness was a joke to her. “May we have the honor of knowing with whom we speak?” He asked, formal and stilted. The words sounded familiar to Azula, like something she’d heard but hadn't paid attention to. Was it court?

She almost rolled her eyes. He was quoting _Love Amongst the Dragons_. Her brother was an idiot. 

At least it wasn’t the Ember Island version. 

**”I have borne many names over the years. Mother of Man, Wahuang, the Mender of Heaven. But you may call me Nuwa.”** Her voice reverberated through Azula’s entire body, almost painful to hear, but still the girl did not kneel. 

Zuko’s eye was wide and she could see a tremor in his hands. He reached out to Azula and tapped on her arm, pointing down, before sinking into a proper bow to the Spirit. Azula followed, though she didn’t want to. However, she knew the laws that governed manners, and Zuko was the older child and the one asked to be here. Therefore, he was the one in charge. 

“Lady Mother,” Zuko murmured, bending his forehead to the ground before rising up into a seiza. “I am honored beyond words to meet you.” 

**“Oh?”** A coy answer, and one that made Azula want to throw a fire dagger in her face. But Nuwa continued. **“It is not often that I speak to humans, but events have made it necessary.”**

“Necessary, my Lady?” Zuko asked. Azula racked her mind, trying to figure out why the spirits were interfering with human affairs. The only time that happened was when the Avatar was acting as the intermediary. But there was no Avatar and hadn’t been one for a hundred years. 

**“This war you fight, it has gone on too long. A hundred years of violence leaves a mark, even on the eldest of beings.”** She pulled her dress forward slightly, enough that Azula could see the ragged and scorched hem. **“But more than that, it is a sign of a greater problem. One we intend to fix.”**

Zuko was staring at the hem, so horrified that it seemed like he missed what she had said. Azula sighed and spoke up, hoping the lady was more forgiving than her Grandfather. “When you say we, My Lady, to whom do you speak?” She asked, leaning forward in her own bow. 

Nuwa’s eyes met Azula’s. It was a moment that the girl would never be able to explain. In that second, she saw the rise and fall of mountains, of the oceans sweeping across lands, of things unimaginable to the human mind. She jerked away and fell forward, breathing deep gulps of air. 

“La-la!” Zuko cried. He laid his hands on her back, rubbing in circles. “What did you do?” His voice was no longer the respectful tone, but harsh and accusatory. 

**“Forgive me,”** The woman murmured, actually sounding apologetic. **“I have not spoken to a human in the last millenia, and even then, it was the Avatar. I’ve forgotten my effect on the normal human. She is uninjured, I promise.”**

“You’re certain?” He asked quietly, fretting over Azula. She would’ve elbowed him for it, but was too busy in the process of trying to remember how to speak. 

**“As certain as I can be, Agni’s Chosen.”** Nuwa said. **“But she asked an important question, and so now I must explain.”**

She clapped her hands and the hollow disappeared, launching them into a black void. Azula choked on air and spun around. They were the only ones in this void, just her, Zuko, and the Great Spirit before them. 

**“When I speak of we, I do not speak of myself in a way. I start the process, but everything is very much left up to you.”**

A broken pillar appeared before them, shattered and fallen. Five lights began to spark, each a different color, as they swirled around the pillar, before lifting it up. At one end of the pillar appeared the world, a great brown ball of dirt floating in nothingness. On the other end was the brilliant blue sky. 

**“I once fixed the pillars of Heaven by creating five stones to patch up the blue sky. Of those five stones were born my children.”**

The red light shot forth before exploding into light, and forming into the Sun, hanging into the blackness. “ **Agni.”**

A white light out towards the Sun but stopped short, before it exploded into silver light. There hung the moon, twirling around the Sun and shifting through its phases. **”Tui.”**

The blue light struck the ball of dirt and washed out into waves, water filling up every gap. It spun and spilled adn wrapped, until the whole earth was covered in water. **“La.”**

The yellow light followed, and shattered just before the water, crystalline fine powder flowing in the air. It flowed across the calm waters, kicking up whitecaps as strong winds began to blow. **“ Fujin.”**

The brown light followed the blue before skipping across the top. It bounced back up but couldn’t land. Finally it returned to Nuwa’s hand as she sighed. **“And my youngest, Guayin. She did not feel strong enough to create the lands herself. So she stayed with me.** She tucked the stone into her pocket. 

**“And thus our world was born. The Physical World, completely whole. But only me and my five children were here. The rest on the other side in the Spirit World. Until Vaatu.**

The pillar wobbles, before a tear appears next to it, ripping open the black voice to reveal something else. The thing looked like some giant Flat Hog-Snake, pitch black with some reddish pattern on its belly. It slipped into the Physical World, its tail wrapped up in something bright white and glowing. Another Flat Hog Snake was dragged in, this one white with a blueish pattern

**WIth Vaatu came Raava, for the two were entwined together. Chaos and Order, battling together as one. But the door, once opened, was not quickly closed, and their noise attracted another.**

A loud roar echoed in the black voice, and every spirit and person shivered in its wake. Suddenly, a large dragon tore its way through the small rip, mouth opened in another soul shaking sound. It launched from the Spirit World to land on the water covered Earth. And the Earth shook. 

**“The Dragon clawed through, and with it, came violence.”** Nuwa whispered. The Dragon writhed its way through the waters and volcanoes erupted behind it. It spun and whirled and land raised. In its violence, the brown little light that settled in Nuwa’s pocket fluttered out. It flew down to land on the earth the Dragon had dragged up. Brown light flowed over it, and the Dragon roared again, before slithering towards a place. It curled up and laid down, its head on its back, asleep. **“Guayin gave the Dragon peace.”**

**“And here, I brought the humans, led them to this world. Vaatu and Raava taught them, as did the other spirits. But time has passed, and things have changed.”** The earth shifted and they stood on the ground, an empty field of nothing. Raava and Vaatu, the Hog-snakes appeared, locked in some sort of battle. **“Refusing to realize they are one half of the same whole, both of them continued their fight. And so, Raava merged herself with a human, to create the first Avatar.** A bright light, and suddenly, a human stood fighting Vaatu. **“Together, they locked Vaatu away, in the Spirit Tree, a great prison.”** A black tree bloomed, black tendrils spilling from the trunk. 

**“And so Raava convinced us all that she would bring peace and order to the world. That she would create balance, with the help of her human souls she was tied to. And we allowed it, because it was simple and humans are impossible to understand.**

The image disappeared, and it was back to only Azula, Zuko and the Great Spirit Nuwa. She sighed and looked at them. **“Raava’s attempts at order have only created chaos. She forced the humans to separate by the elements my children blessed them with, and as such, they have grown to hate one another. There is no peace. This war is long, but it is by no means the first. Perhaps it is one of the worst, because Fujin’s people, the ones he loved, are gone. Raava was wrong, and now we must fix this new broken pillar.”**

She smiled and looked at Zuko. **“I tell you this now, because you are Agni’s Chosen. I have told my children to choose one human to be their champion in this change, their stone. I refuse to rewrite the world, but these chosen will speak with our voice and make their change. Agnii chose you, and he is the one to push you first into action. If you are to be first, you will be the one to know.**

Suddenly they were back in the hollow of the tree, staring at the Great Spirit as she watched them. **“Find the other chosen. Together, perhaps you will stop what is to come.”**

And with that, she disappeared. Azula didn’t know what happened next, because as soon as the Spirit's presence left, all she saw was black. 


End file.
